Avon Products, Inc., a leading global beauty company and the world's
largest direct seller (NYSE:AVP), with headquarters in New York, and
Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P., headquartered in Los Angeles,
announced today the settlement of patent litigation between the parties.
As part of the settlement, Avon Products, Inc. has agreed to pay an
undisclosed sum for a nonexclusive license under a comprehensive
portfolio of patents that Katz owns relating to interactive voice
applications.

The nonexclusive license covers services offered by Avon in the “Product/Service
Support” and the “Financial
Services Call Processing” Fields of Use
including customer service delivered through automated systems and live
agents. Other terms of the license were not disclosed.

The patents held by Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P. cover a
wide range of interactive technology including automated forms of:
customer service, prescription refill services, securities trading,
merchandising, prepaid services, telephone conferences, registration,
home shopping, as well as functions involved in securing information
from databases by telephone, interactive cable transactions, and various
other uses of toll free and local numbers.

“AVON offers our network of over five million
independent Avon Sales Representatives various ways to contact us,
including automated telephone services and web based services. These
contact methods include telephone options such as the ‘Fast
Talk’ automated order entry line and the ‘QUIK
PAY’ automated payment line. The
technologies in the Katz patents have enabled our telephone operations
to serve Avon Sales Representatives more effectively and efficiently,”
said Anthony Santini, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Avon
Products, Inc.

Ronald A. Katz stated, “We welcome Avon to
the large number of leading companies who have purchased a license under
this portfolio.”

Mr. Katz is the named inventor on a large number of patents primarily in
the fields of telecommunications and computing. He also formed
Telecredit, Inc., the nation’s first on-line
real time credit and check cashing authorization system, and was awarded
a patent as co-inventor of that technology.

Avon, the company for women, is a leading global beauty company, with
over $8 billion in annual revenue. As the world's largest direct seller,
Avon markets to women in well over 100 countries through over five
million independent Avon Sales Representatives. Avon's product line
includes beauty products, fashion jewelry and apparel, and features such
well-recognized brand names as Avon Color, Anew, Skin-So-Soft, Avon
Solutions, Advance Techniques, Avon Naturals, Mark, and Avon Wellness.
Learn more about Avon and its products at www.avon.com.